Hide And Seek
by DC Lady
Summary: A test has Deeks tracking the whereabouts of Agent Callen, who is giving the LAPD officer a run for his money.  But things turn deadly when it's discovered that Callen has had an adverse affect to the antidote of a deadly toxin.
1. Chapter 1

Hide And Seek

By DC Lady

Spoilers for Season 1, Episode 14 of NCIS Los Angeles.

Story idea gakked from an old episode of Starsky & Hutch. However, all narrative and dialogue are mine.

* * *

><p>It was a typical morning after a particularly hellish case that involved biochem warfare. Callen hated those types of cases, but it had ended well, even though he managed to get infected with botulinum poison. Again. And again, he would've died if it hadn't been for Sam's quick thinking and a really big shot filled with the antidote.<p>

He really hated needles.

At least this time there wasn't an easily persuadable little old lady with way too much knowledge about the stuff to be worried about. The bad guy who concocted this particular batch of botulinum poison was dead.

Callen walked into the bull pen, dropped his bag on the floor, then shoved it underneath his desk with his foot.

"You get the all clear from the doc?" Sam asked.

"Good morning to you, too," Callen muttered, but Sam only looked at him and waited. "You're not my mother, Sam." It was a well-worn statement that didn't faze the big guy one iota. Callen sighed. "The doc's waiting on the last of the blood test results, but so far, everything's checking out normal. He saw no reason for me not to return to work. Satisfied? Or do you need me to get you a note from him?"

"Unnecessary, Mr. Callen. The agency doctor automatically sends those directly to me," Hetty said as she walked up to his desk and handed him a folder. He opened it and grinned.

"When do we start?"

"Immediately," Hetty said.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Our next case: Operation Hide And Seek." Callen handed the folder to Sam.

"Morning," Kensi said as she and Deeks entered the bull pen. She stopped in front of Callen's desk. "Did you get the all clear from the medical officer?"

"What is this, a conspiracy? Yes, mother. There's even a note from the doctor." Callen looked over at Hetty who gave him the smallest twinge of her lips.

"Good," Kensi said, sounding way too smug this early in the morning.

"Mr. Callen, a word if you please." Hetty signaled him to her office, for privacy, no doubt.

"Something wrong?"

She nodded. "The Petry case."

"Nothing new has come across my desk." He looked at her closely, not that he was ever very good at getting an accurate reading on where Hetty was heading on any subject. "Do you know something that I don't?"

"I know that the report you submitted is clearly lacking."

Petry was an ex naval officer who decided to go into business for himself with armed forces' technology. He was still on the run with said technology that would garner a lucrative price on the black market. Callen would see to it that Petry didn't get that far.

And it was all in the report. Leave it to Hetty to find something he'd apparently missed, although he couldn't think of what that could be.

"A signature, Mr. Callen," she said and handed him the report along with a pen. "You forgot to sign it."

He grinned, scribbled his name, then handed it back to her. "Sorry. It won't happen again."

"See that is doesn't." She put the folder on her desk, then looked up at him. "Do you still believe that Petry hasn't left the country?"

"We've got him cornered, Hetty. He can't hop a slow boat to China without us knowing about it. It's just a matter of time before he surfaces, and when he does, we'll get him."

"I have no doubt that you will, Mr. Callen." She looked over to Deeks who had his feet propped up on his desk . "Try not to have too much fun at Mr. Deeks expense, will you?"

"You're kidding, right? Operation Hide And Seek never looked so enticing." He turned to leave.

"I'm grounding you to within a thirty mile radius of this location, Mr. Callen. No more overnight stays at the Chateau Marmont for whatever alias you choose to enact this time."

He wondered if she was trying to give Deeks a much needed edge as there weren't many choices in places where he could stay around her specified parameters. Then he grinned. Maybe it was time to brush the dust off an alias who didn't require luxurious accommodations. In fact, he required no accommodations at all.

He straightened when he noticed Hetty watching him with a raised eyebrow. It wouldn't do to peak her curiosity, after all, so he made a hasty retreat.

All right, everyone, we have a new case," Callen said as he entered the bull pen. Sam rubbed his hands together. He'd always loved Operation Hide And Seek. Or maybe it was the chance at teaching newbies the ropes that he loved. Callen always thought Sam would make a great teacher. As for Callen, he just loved the chase, even though technically, he wasn't the one who was doing the chasing.

Kensi raised an eyebrow at Sam, who handed her the folder. She burst out laughing when she opened it. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

"What?" Deeks asked, holding his hand out for the folder. When Kensi didn't give it to him, he looked over to Callen.

"We're about to give you your Suspect Apprehension exam," Callen said. "It's required if you want to continue working with us."

"Exam? But I haven't studied for any exam. I do get to study, right?"

Kensi couldn't stop laughing.

Sam put a hand on Deeks' shoulder. "This isn't a sit down, multiple choice, Deeks. You see, G here will disappear, and you are going to find him. Or else."

All color drained from Deeks' face. He pointed at Callen. "My test is to find Callen? Callen, the super-agent who has about a gazillion aliases and has had enough practice in disappearing off the face of the earth more than anyone I've even heard of? I doubt even Hetty could find him if he didn't want to be found. No offense, man, but can't I play hid 'n seek with Kensi, instead?"

Kensi stopped laughing. "And you think you could find me?"

"Piece of cake. I'd just hang out at that Taqueria on fourth and main each morning when you go to get your breakfast burrito."

Sam looked at Kensi with a frown. "Establishing a routine is deadly in our line of work, Kens. You know that."

"He's just yanking your chain. There are at least five Taqueria's I go to and not the same one twice in a row."

Sam pointed at her. "Make sure you don't."

She rolled her eyes, then turned to Callen. "Are the rules the same?"

"You've done this before?" Deeks' voice squeaked.

"Many, many times," Kensi said.

"And exactly how many of those agents actually found Callen and passed this test?"

"No one has been able to find Callen. Yet," she said, looking a little proud of that fact.

"You have forty-eight hours to find me. I will check-in every hour on the hour. And I will sleep someplace we both know within a thirty mile radius of here. You can also use everything at your disposal to find me, including Sam and Kensi."

"I can see utilizing what I'd normally have at my disposal, but checking in every hour hardly seems fair. I mean, bad guys don't usually call us to check in, do they?"

"This is Callen we're talking about, Deeks. Whether he calls in or not doesn't matter. You'll never find him," Sam said.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Deeks said. "Okay. Okay. This could be fun, I guess. When do we start?"

Sam and Kensi both gave Deeks identical grins.

"It already has," Kensi said.

Deeks turned every which way. "Where'd Callen go?"


	2. Chapter 2

I'm not a doctor. I don't even play one on TV. So all medical references were pulled out of my...head.

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><p>Callen grinned when he spotted Benji, a disabled Gulf War vet who had a penchant for routine, a dangerous thing in Callen's line of work. But the familiarity of Benji's world was something Callen craved. It was probably why he'd kept this particular alias a secret.<p>

"Why am I not surprised to find you here," Callen said as he made his way through a pack of ducks that were picking bits of bread off of the ground to the park bench where Benji sat. Benji liked to feed the ducks and did it at the same time nearly every day.

Benji squinted at him through the sun in his eyes. "Davey. It's been a while."

"Yeah. You're looking good." A little scruffier than when Callen had last seen him, but healthy.

"You look like crap. You in trouble?"

Being exposed to deadly toxins must have taken more out of him than he'd thought. Nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure.

"Nice to see you, too, Benj."

"You trying to change the subject?" Sometimes Benji reminded Callen an awful lot of Sam. And Hetty. It was a lethal combination.

"You know how it is. But no, I'm not in trouble. This time. I do need a place to crash for a couple of days, though. You still at Harcliff?"

Harcliff rented out low income studio apartments to people like Benji who lived on a fixed income. And it was a place both Callen and Deeks were familiar with-a requirement of Hide and Seek. Deeks had worked right in front of the building as an undercover cop with the LAPD in the guise of a bum. Kensi had even mentioned seeing him there once with a cup, begging for change as he tried to gather drug related intel.

Benji eyed him closely, then gathered the remaining bread and dumped it on the ground for the ducks-who knew ducks could move so fast. He grabbed his cane, then stood with a grunt and a groan-his left leg was mostly useless from a grenade that'd exploded just a few feet from him.

"Yeah. Still got that couch with your name on it, too," Benji said. "Come on. You look like you could use some down time."

Callen grabbed his satchel filled with his stuff, then eyed his watch. It was almost ten a.m. He'd check in with Deeks when he got to Benji's place.

"Thanks."

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><p>If the team suspected that Deeks felt uncomfortable, out of his element, scared stiff, they didn't show it. All he knew was that he was trying his best not to blush, trying not to look as if he hadn't clue one as to how in the hell he was going to find Callen. Somehow he knew it was obvious as he stood in Callen's place on the floor in ops as the team waited for him to start calling out questions and putting together a miraculous, saving the day plan they were used to getting from the head agent.<p>

"Okay, kids, listen up. I want to run through a checklist and cover our bases even though we all know the first thing Callen's going to do is get rid of his cell and anything else that we can use to track him," Deeks said. Might as well get the preliminaries out of the way.

"Yep." Erik held up a cell phone. "Callen told me to keep this safe for him."

"What about his car?"

Sam held up a set of keys and grinned.

"All right, all right. Not unexpected." But it was still a little unnerving.

Everyone made mistakes, he just had to make sure to be there when Callen made one. The problem was, from what Deeks had seen firsthand, the guy had always been able to turn any mistake to his advantage.

Deeks took a calming breath.

"What about surveillance?" It was a long shot, just like anything else Deeks could think of. But he would see this thing through to the bitter end. And he had no doubt that the end would be bitter.

"What about surveillance?" Erik asked.

"Do we have eyes in or around his house?"

Erik punched in Callen's home address on the computer. "No street cameras anywhere in the vicinity. And do you seriously think Callen would allow a camera inside his home?"

"Then he won't be expecting it, will he? Can we set something up at the front and back entrances, too?"

"This is G's home, we're talking about," Sam said. "You sure you want to face him when he finds out what you did?"

"You forget that it's my career on the line here. Callen would understand." But when Deeks tried to swallow, his mouth had suddenly gone dry. "Where can I get these camera's anyway. And they come with instructions, right? Oh, and any suggestions on where I should mount them would be appreciated."

Kensi rolled her eyes. "I guess it's Surveillance one oh one along with Undercover for you, partner."

"Very funny. But as you may or may not be aware, LAPD doesn't have the budget you guys do for this high tech stuff. We are more of a nuts and bolts operation. It makes it a little more dangerous, of course, but it's effective." He tried to sound smug. He really did.

Deeks was a pretty good undercover cop-had a knack for getting into the head of a suspect. But Callen's head was a mystery, and he'd worked with the guy long enough that he should have some sort of clue by now on what made G. Callen tick. He doubted even Sam knew for sure. Maybe Hetty did. She seemed to have a pretty good understanding of Callen from what he'd seen. And it looked like Callen trusted her, probably more than anyone else, even Sam. Not that Callen didn't trust Sam, but there was something different about his relationship with Hetty. Deeks hadn't figured it out yet, but he was sure the others had felt it, too. At any rate, he knew that the odds of finding Callen and passing this stupid test were slim to none.

"I'll help you set up electronic surveillance, but on one condition," Kensi said, and Deeks sighed in relief. Sometimes being pitied was a helpful thing.

"What's that?"

"You take full responsibility with Callen. And you don't tell him I was anywhere near his house. Got it?" She poked him as she spoke.

"Got it," Deeks said, rubbing the now sore spot on his chest. "And to show my appreciation for helping me, you can search his bedroom-you'd be amazed at what clues can be found in someone's underwear drawer."

Sam smiled. "Good luck, there. G has more secrets than anyone I know. He also has less stuff to hide those secrets in."

"What do you mean?" Deeks asked.

"You'll see," Kensi said.

"I'm afraid there's been a change in plans." Deeks stiffened when Hetty walked into the room. She really did need a bell around her neck.

"What's wrong, Hetty?" Sam asked, and by the look on her face, Deeks could see that it was something serious. Which was saying a lot, considering Hetty's usually stoic appearance.

When she didn't say anything, Sam stepped closer. "Hetty?"

"I just got off the phone with the company doctor. It seems that Mr. Callen's blood tests were problematic."

"He has Botulinum poisoning?" Kensi asked.

"No. The doctors never had any serious fear of that given the antidote Mr. Hanna was able to give him so quickly. But alas, the cure may prove more fatal than the disease if we don't find him, and I mean find him fast."

"What was wrong with the antidote?" Deeks asked.

"There was nothing wrong with the antidote itself. However, Mr. Callen is having an adverse reaction to one of the ingredients used to create the serum. Ingredients that were not in the serum he received with his previous exposure. If left untreated, these micro organisms will target his respiratory system."

"Like pneumonia," Sam said.

"A much more severe form of pneumonia. From what the doctors have been able to determine, the reaction is quick forming and can prove deadly in a matter of days, maybe even hours. We must find Mr. Callen fast if he is to have any hope of survival."

"He's gone ghost on us, Hetty. You know what that means." Sam managed to keep his voice even, but it was a close thing.

"Indeed I do, Mr. Hanna. That is why we will pull every resource at our disposal to find him," Hetty said. "Mr. Callen is due to call on the hour as per the rules of the assignment. He will no doubt use an untraceable phone, so Mr. Deeks, inform him immediately that I need to speak with him. Maybe, just maybe, we will be lucky enough to end this before it goes any further."

Deeks looked from Hetty to Sam to Kensi. He hadn't been a part of the team for very long, but one thing he learned early on was that this team functioned like a family-a family he was slowly feeling a part of. And as much as Callen liked to go lone wolf, for reasons that he still wasn't too clear about, these people continually brought him back into the fold as one of their own. And Deeks would do his part to help them with that.

"When he starts to get sick, he'll call in, right? He'll see a doctor or something," Deeks said.

"G hates doctors. He'll probably just think he can ride it out. I've had to haul his ass in to the emergency room a couple of times because he was too stubborn to admit that he was sick," Sam said.

"I'll call LAPD and have an APB issued. It might help having every cop on the street looking, too," Deeks said, and grabbed his phone. There was no time to lose.

"We'll install those cameras," Kensi said. "He might just go back home if he's sick. It's a long shot, but..."

"It's best to cover all bases whether we deem them a long shot or not," Hetty said. "Erik?"

"I'll monitor every alias we have of him on file, credit cards, phone records. Everything."

"He was restricted to a thirty mile radius of this location. I know it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but monitor whatever devices you have at any hotel, motel, or row house within the vicinity."

"I'll start checking on the streets. Ask a few questions," Sam said.

"Good. Get to work, people. We need to find our boy and bring him home." Hetty took a deep breath and let the air out slowly before leaving to do some searching of her own, Deeks was certain.

Someday, Deeks was going to find out what this thing with her and Callen was all about.


	3. Chapter 3

Deeks scanned the neighborhood where Callen apparently lived as Kensi pulled up to a house that reminded Deeks of any number of middle class homes he'd visited over the years. Nothing about any of it screamed G. Callen, not that Deeks knew Callen well enough to determine his personal style-heck, Hetty even dressed the guy most of the time.

At the front door, Kensi pulled a single key from a flower pot that had seen better days, then opened the front door to the house.

"Come here much?" Deeks asked, carrying the ladder and tools for their little technological surveillance instillation and wondered if there was more to his partner's relationship with Callen than he'd realized. Not that it would bother him if Kensi had a thing with Callen. Although Deeks just couldn't see it. But then again, his spidey senses were off on anything Callen related, and that scared him more than a little since he needed to find the guy before it was too late.

"Nope."

"Oh? So you just happen to know where Callen hides a spare key."

"Sam does. He told me before we headed over."

Sam. Of course.

"So you've never been here?" he asked as she turned the key and opened the door.

"I didn't say that."

Deeks stopped in his tracks when he walked inside. He just stared. He couldn't help it.

"It's empty."

Kensi disappeared down the hall, returning a short time later. "Everything checks out, so I don't think he's been by here, yet."

"Everything checks out? It's empty."

Kensi grinned. "G doesn't do stuff."

"What does that mean? Everyone does stuff."

"Not G."

"Why?" Deeks spun around the living room, then made his way to the only furniture in the place he'd seen so far-a chair and end table in the corner near the fireplace. He was so checking out the bedroom next.

He rifled through the stuff on the table, picked up a book. The title was in a language he didn't know. He held it out to Kensi. "Is that Russian? Who reads books in Russian? For fun."

She didn't answer him, just spread the tools out on the floor, then eyed the light fixture on the ceiling. She grabbed a screwdriver, climbed the ladder, then made quick work of dismantling the thing.

"But...why?" The mystery behind Callen was starting to seriously tick him off.

She laughed.

"No, seriously. What is it with this guy?" he asked. "I want to know. No one ever says anything, but I see you guys giving each other the eye every time he says something weird or there's a seemingly normal moment that becomes awkward fast when Callen's around. I know he's an orphan and all, but that doesn't make him special. I'm the poster boy for a rotten childhood, but I'm perfectly normal, thank you very much."

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"At least I have stuff," Deeks said. "I don't even know the guys name, which was another weird eye moment when I asked him what the G stood for. Is it some big spy secret no one outside your little clique is privy to?" Deeks asked.

She looked at him as if thinking if she should spill Callen's secrets, then she sighed. "It's nothing personal."

"Yeah, right. I bet _you_ know his name."

"Is that what this is about? You're jealous?"

"I'm not jealous," he muttered, then shrugged.

"Deeks, Callen doesn't even know his first name."

Deeks frowned. "What?"

"We call him G. Haven't you ever wondered why?"

He shrugged. "I just thought it was some strange nickname. You know, how some people call me Big D?"

She rolled her eyes. "No one calls you Big D."

"Sure they do."

"Who?" she asked as she installed the camera that was small enough to fit just about anywhere into the fixture.

"People," he said. "So, what's the story that Callen doesn't know his own name?"

She climbed down, then looked from side to side as if Callen would suddenly pop out of the woodwork. "G was put into an orphanage with his older sister when he was about five, although he never knew that he even had a sister until recently." At the look on his face, she waived him off the subject. "Whole other story. They were separated for whatever reason. He was raised in foster homes, thirty-seven of them in all, until he turned eighteen and joined the military. So there's never been much in the way of stability until then, and even then, he was always on the move. It's all he's ever known."

"And the name thing?"

"G. Callen was all anyone ever called him growing up. After a while, I think no one remembered what the G stood for."

Deeks had spent some time in the foster care system. It'd been rough going, never knowing what kind of people you were going to stay with, some good, some not so good. But he hadn't grown up in the system like Callen evidently had, and he didn't know what to make of that.

And Deeks thought he'd had a rough childhood.

"What about his birth certificate? There has to be a paper trail somewhere."

"I don't know. G doesn't like to talk about it. But I know he hasn't been able to find much of anything that would give him a clue to who he is."

Deeks' phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. The number wasn't familiar, but then again, it wouldn't be. He checked his watch: ten on the dot. "It has to be him."

Kensi nodded encouragement as he pressed 'talk'.

"Callen, Hetty needs to talk with you ASAP. Something's happened," he said in a rush.

"Nice try, Deeks, but it's not going to work. I'm off grid, remember? In real life I wouldn't be calling in. So don't forget to study for your test, Deeks. Time's running out.

"The line went dead. "Dammit. Why the hell call in if all he's going to do is hang up on me."

"We need to think of something to get his attention," Kensi said.

It was one of those rare moments in life when an idea seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe it was divine intervention. Someone bigger than him watching his back. Or maybe in this case it was Callen's back that was being watched. The point was, Deeks was pretty certain that the Big Guy was real and had just given him a seriously good plan.

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><p>Callen wondered with some degree of concern if Hetty had really wanted to talk to him. But then again, he was a ghost at the moment. She knew better than anyone what that meant. Although he was surprised that Deeks would pull the Hetty card so early in the game. He smiled as he remembered the desperation in Deeks' voice. It was why he loved this operation so much.<p>

"Everything all right?" Benji asked as he put a set of sheets and a pillow on the couch.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Callen sat on the couch, feeling tired and achy all of a sudden.

Benji grabbed a loaf of bread from the pantry. Callen began to cough, and Benji reached back in for a bag of cough drops and threw it at him.

"Thanks."

"I'm going back to the park. I'll bring back lunch when I'm done."

Callen nodded as Benji left, then unwrapped a drop and tossed it in his mouth. He laid back on the couch, closed his eyes. He hoped he felt better after a nap.


End file.
